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Friday, November 25, 2011

Carrot & Pear Cake (Eggless and Vegan)

When I started baking, I had decided that I won't be using butter (and definitely not in cups and cups) in order to do good to myself, esp to feel good, when I stand in front of the mirror ;) I also try to use whole wheat flour and avoid or atleast reduce the quantity of all-purpose flour/maida used. Wheat flour is bleached with a substance called Benzoyl peroxide (which is present in hair dyes and is banned in UK china and the European Union. OMG!!) to get white colored Maida. Source : Wikipedia

There are a lot of Carrot Cake recipes over the Web and sure, they all look delicious and tempting! This one caught my attention and I wanted to give it a try. The first time, I made these with an apple, as per the original recipe, just eggless. Simply delicious! Now, I had some pears in my fridge and I thought a pear can be substituted in place of an apple! Sure, they work great! They are similarly textured and is almost of the same size. I also inserted some walnuts (but of course;) - you can add any nuts - pistachios, pecans or use 1/2 raisins and 1/2 nuts - entirely upto you!

Perfectly moist and full of carrots, this one is a healthy cake that also tastes super-yummy! :) Don't blame me if this cake becomes your tea-time obsession! :)

How To -

Preparatory Steps -

Procedure -

Combine flaxmeal, oil, prune extract and the sugars until a bit creamy.

Ground flax seeds

It becomes a bit frothy after whisking with warm water

In another bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, salt and all-spice powder.

Gradually add to the wet mixture until just combined.

Fold in carrots and pear.

Mix in coarsely chopped walnuts.

Grease a square baking pan with oil or butter (if you don't mind!) and spoon the batter and level it.

Ready to go into the oven

Bake at 180 degree Celsius for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake, comes out clean.

Just out of the oven!

Cooled and turned upside down

Close-up!

Let cool and then make pieces.

Enjoy as such with a cuppa chai tea, like I did! :)

When you serve to guests, you could make a quick frosting with cheese cake, to make it decadent! You could place a walnut on top of each piece for decoration.

Carrot and Pear Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

(To make the frosting, I used equal quantities of cream cheese and sugar, 1/4th of that quantity of butter and a few drops of vanilla - whisk them all together until and creamy and well-incorporated...Ummmm....:)

Notes:

Do not add more water than the prescribed ground flaxseed-to-water proportion (1 tbsp flax to 3 tbsp warm water). The end result will be sticky dough-like cake and longer hours of baking.The first time, I used flaxseeds, I added extra water and learnt this lesson the hard way!

While grating carrots and particularly, apple or pear, strain extra juice if there's too much and do not add all the juice to the cake. For this reason, I prefer chopping pear or apple into small pieces (in lieu of grating). Best to not grate carrots fine (Use the bigger grater). This is to prevent the cake from turning overly moist.

Ever since I started baking, I've been using a LOT more butter than I used to consume :S I love recipes which use only a little bit of fat- it's makes me feel much less guilty! :D I love the idea of using pear/apple in a cake- this sounds delicious!